posted April 01, 2001 08:11 PM CRIS EASH POWERS TO FIRST WIN OF THE SEASON AT WILLIAMS GROVE

MECHANICSBURG, PA, 4/1/01 - "We had an awesome race car".Cris Eash couldn't have said it any better. Eash charged from his 10thstarting position to pass York's Jeff Rohrbaugh on the seventh lap for thelead. He then drove away from the field the rest of the way to pick up hisfirst win of the season in the 25 lap super sprint feature at Williams GroveSpeedway Sunday afternoon."Our goal is to come here every week to win the point championship," Eashsaid. "Rahmer's been tough here and Kreitz has been good...and Lance Deweasehas been real strong.""That's what we're shooting for. It's going to be a tough task."Polesitter Rohrbaugh grabbed the lead at the drop of the green with outsidefrontrow starter Curt Michael, Todd Shaffer (who started fourth), Dave Ely(who started third) and Todd Gracey (who started sixth) in tow.A spin by Greg Hodnett in the second turn on the second lap brought out therace's first caution. Rohrbaugh was able to maintain the lead on the restartas Shaffer and Michael battled for second. But a spin by Shaffer in thethird and fourth turns of the third lap ended the battle and brought outcaution once again.Meanwhile, Eash had quietly moved up into fifth from his 10th startingposition on the restart as Rohrbaugh began to fight off the challenges ofDave Ely for the lead. Eash quickly got around Gracey and then Michael tomove into third by the fifth lap.But the action came to a quick halt on the sixth lap when newcomer JeremyCampbell tangled with Hodnett, Shaffer, Mike Erdley and Brook Weibley on thefirst and second turns. Campbell flipped wildly out over the second turnguardrail with Hodnett flipped as well. All drivers involved were notinjured.The stoppage of action proved gave Eash's crew a chance to work on hissprinter."It felt real good today," Eash said upon exiting his GarrettMotorsports/Miller Brother's Chevrolet No.17E sprinter in victory lane. "Hadthat red (flag) and changed a few shocks and the car got even better.""I can't say enough about these guys (his crew). They do a heck of a goodjob. We've been real fast but we haven't won any races...but our time iscoming."On the restart Eash drove around Ely in the first and second turns to moveinto second place and set his sight's on the race-leading Rohrbaugh. Eashthen wasted no time as he drove around the top of the first and second turnsone more time to grab the lead on the seventh lap."I knew I was good because I passed a couple cars on the top going intoturn one," Eash said. "I could pretty much flat-foot it all the way throughthe corner until you got to the exit and got to spinning a little bit."The race's final caution came out on the eighth lap for Mark Smith who hadspun in the fourth turn. Eash simply pulled away on the restart and drovethrough lapped traffic over the remaining non-stop laps to take thecheckered over a charging Keith Kauffman by 2.08 seconds."I seen Kauffman was behind the number 29 (Ely) and then a little bit laterhe was in front of him," Eash said. "I Got into a little heavy lappedtraffic and that held me up a little bit, but we had a really good car andI'm sure Keith (Kauffman) had a really good car to."Eash's 17th career Williams Grove win was worth $3,000, and kept his streakintact of finishing every race at the historical Mechanicsburg half-mile inthe top-10. Eash has also registered two top-five finishes as well as hiswin on Sunday."I'd really like to thank my sponsors," Eash added. "I've got to look atthe car here to see them all...Miller Brothers, Battlefield Harley Davidson,G&G Promotions, Bricker French Fries, Budweiser, Newcomer's Sunoco."If it wasn't for these guys I wouldn't be out here on the track."Ely settled for third, with Donnie Kreitz Jr. fourth, and current Grovepoint leader Lance Dewease fifth. Completing the top-10 were Sean Michael,Fred Rahmer, Rohrbaugh, Shawn Keen, and Curt Michael.Heats for the 29 super sprinters on hand were won by Dewease, Rohrbaugh,and Curt Michael, with Smith winning the consolation.

Landisburg's Mark Richard took a lesson from Eash's winning run on thecushion and used it to perfection in winning the 20 lap 358 sprint featurefor his first win of the year. Richard, who started seventh, tracked downpolesitter and race-long leader T.J. Stutts with two laps remaining to takethe lead and then pulled away for the win.Stutts, who won the night before at Selinsgrove, settled for second, withEric Stambaugh finishing a solid third, Brian Eichelberger was fourth, andCory Haas fifth. Completing the top-10 was Joe Whitcomb, Dale Hammaker, RichEichelberger, Billy Albright, and Jake Raudabaugh.Heats for the 42 "358" Sprints were won by Whitcomb, Rusty Pressley, TimHershey, and Hammaker. Twin consolation events were won by Greg Leiby andBrian Marriott.